Is there any point to keep playing without investing money?

[tealquest]

Is there any point to keep playing without investing money?

I really don't want to sound negative, but I already feel like I'm starting to lose interest in the game, after 2 days that is. So here's how it goes:

I got 3 decks that are noob-optimised. ie starter cards + something I got from barrels, that makes it into somewhat noob-level competitive. I generally skimmed through locked cards and I know that to improve my decks just one card won't be enough, I'd need like 3 (at the very least to get a full set of x3 cards) or a lot more to pull off combos. Otherwise there's like no point in switching cards. This is one.

Second, I played some ranked and I now hit decks that are way better than mine pulling 20+ power every turn, or removing my stuff in addition to placing some good power points to their rows. Or just buffing their ranks every turn exponentially.

I mean, I understand I only got 2 days, but what are my options now? I've seen the game I know exactly the matches I have no chances at, like absolutely zero cause gwent has no "swing" mechanics (ok only one, that is scorch, which is still pretty hard to set up), its if one deck is stronger it wins guaranteed. Should I be just quick conceding such matches only to play against weaker decks? and then again what am I waiting for? For time to pass? how long that would take? a month?( feel like its probably more) to get me just another ONE noob-competitive deck?

I am sorry for the comparison, but when I started hearthstone I rememeber I was also frustrated with my opponents playing all those legendary cards against me when I had zero of those. But thing is, I could still win some matches, progress my ranks, and pretty often get a card to insert into my deck(s) and kinda improve it a bit, almost every day. Feels like competitive gwent is so combo-reliant, good gwent cards are so combo-reliant that there's like no point in playing without investing money.

For example, I have zero cards that benefit from spies being present at opponent side, so like no reason for me to even try making such deck cause that would only result in low power random units on my side and some addon spies on my opponent's side which serve no purpose (well ok, I can shoot at those 2 hp units for 6 damage instead of 3 damage, woohoo!). I mean its math right? I play 6 health unit and deal 3 damage at best = 9 power swing. So why bother playing that at all when I can just play vikings and drop 11+ power instead every turn.

I have only 1 unit that benefits from reveal. So that is entire faction completely closed for me for like half a year (or so?) or untill I invest money. Same goes to blue guys (don't remember their name, with crew mechanic) can't make any decent deck out of what I got (it just looks absolutly pointless, I always compare that to my viking deck which just has all those 11+ power units to steal some wins. As simple as that sounds, sheer power is better without combo, and for combo you need a lot of cards (as I already mentioned). In general without combo its pure math (damage+power)x13 - who got bigger number wins. With combo it might be more interesting, but you need a lot of combo cards, otherwise go for pure power.

In other words I kinda hit the wall already, got 3 decks, next one comes in about a month, probably more. And more decks come even later, and for competitive play I'd either have to invest money or burn everythin I got to craft one decent deck.

 

[Khreygond]

having started like you, from way below, and probably so has everyone here at some point, I can tell you there are options.

1) Pick the deck you want to optimize. It will be your starter deck at first and slowly but surely you will build around it. That will probably be the faction you want to focus on, primarily for the first weeks of your playing experience. Getting 6 rounds won a day is not bad at all, since it gives you a keg. Nor is it hard. Getting 12 won is not that hard either, and it usually means a second keg, which at the low ranks, when most cards are locked, means you are getting a lot of cards. I would avoid ranked if I were you, for a time. I started from casual and I played A LOT of casual until getting into Ranked.

2) Mill the factions you don't want. you have 5 starter decks, the option of milling 4 of them for scraps is there. I didn't do it though. And I am glad. But it will accelerate your progression in the short term

 

[StrykerxS77x]

I really don't understand a lot of the issues you mentioned. You are a brand new player so what exactly were you expecting? I would recommend that you stick to playing casual for awhile while you acquire cards. I don't know why a brand new player would absolutely have to play ranked so early if that player isn't happy with the cards yet. The starter decks give you the max amount of legendaries that you can have in a deck so you do have them. Gwent is also very generous at giving ways to give more cards.

Not all Gwent decks are "combo reliant" and you should be getting matched up vs. other new players who also don't have many of the same cards that you don't have. Of course don't try to make a NG spy deck when there are a lot of cards that you need for it. Scoiatel has some non combo reliant cards like Dwarves. Skellige has some great non combo reliant cards like bear masters.

 

[tealquest]

Well I don't want to scrap everything just for one deck. Maybe I was not stressing it out enough, but that is exactly the opposite of what I want. I want more options to play, more decks, but at the same time I don't want to create "doomed" decks just for the sake of creating a deck.

Why avoid ranked? Its basically the same thing but more rewards, I can just concede matches against op decks and still play almost as much. Maybe exactly as much as I'd play in casual, since search times are a lot faster in ranked.

And am pretty sure milling stuff in beta is not a good point.

 

[Bondonkadonk]

As much as I understand the frustration, we've all been there.

Starter decks now are actually a lot better optimised than they ever have been. You get some very good synergised decks and golds/silvers in starters and they're very capable of winning games. I'd advise going on youtube and watching KingBlackToofs starter tutorials that he's made within the last few months, because they go through the best starter decks by faction, the ones you could easily improve on with a few extra cards to make even stronger, and plays each starter deck to show you how to best play and optimise then.

I see you mentioned the NG faction, and while their starter deck isn't very good, they actually have REALLY good silvers and gold, so for a very small amount of investment in some bronzes (impera brigade and enforcer) you could get a very competitive deck on your hands. Again, this is all mentioned in KBT's tutorials.

It may not be best going into to ranked after 2 days of play, unless you're ready to lose quite a few matches. If you don't mind just learning the ropes and potentially losing a lot, then ranked it fine, but if you go in expecting a lot of wins and then getting annoyed at "better decks" then yeah, maybe keep to casual while you build up your decks.

Gwent is actually extremely generous with it's rewards and will give you plenty of chances for kegs and scraps, which you can craft more cards with. I'm a F2P myself on both PC and PS4, PC I've been doing since closed beta, but PS4 I started with only back in Nov-Dec time so my experience as a "new player" is relatively recent in that regard. You may not get what you want from kegs, but you'll find that actually, most the time you'll be crafting the cards you want rather than relying on the luck of the kegs. The kegs are, at worst, a great source of scraps, and at best a chance at some epics and legendaries.

I personally strongly disagree with the suggestion of milling all your other cards. Everyone I know who has done it has fully regretted it. While milling everything but one faction, you're completely restricting what you can play, and in the future if you want to try a different faction, you'll have to invest probably 4k+ scraps just to craft a single deck. It's a total waste, and while it may give you a boost in scraps straight away, you'll waste 4x that crafting them all again later down the line.

I'm afraid that, same with ANY free to play card game, you can't expect to start it and immediately have competitive decks that can play at high ranks. But gwent will allow you to climb steadily and develop your collection along the way. Hell, on my newbie ps4 account, I used a starter deck to climb fairly successfully to the halfway mark on the ladder, and only changed a few bronzes along the way as I got them in kegs, I honestly believe it's just as much about learning the cards and the game as it is about a "good deck" because a newbie with a top tier deck will almost always lose to a pro with a beginners deck in a game like gwent. Cards are, to an extent, only strong when played optimally.

 

[Iuliandrei]

Generally you should be matched with people who have similar experience/deck types so even though you'd still lose to these tier 1 netdecks the game will/should, in theory, push you towards a more balanced matchmaking.

Secondly is to set your goals, playing ranked gives nice rewards both while ranking up and on season end, so maybe a rank 10-12 is what you should aim for.

But yeah i realize it's a bit boring if you don't have options, personally i wouldn't recommend dusting everything and focusing only on one deck.

 

[Rawls]

Well I don't want to scrap everything just for one deck.

I would not mill all your other decks. I did it at the start of closed beta because I pretty much play Scoia'tael exclusively and always have, but milling whole factions takes a while to rebuild. If you're really deseparate for scrap I would say scrap one faction at most.

 

[StrykerxS77x]

Well I don't want to scrap everything just for one deck. Maybe I was not stressing it out enough, but that is exactly the opposite of what I want. I want more options to play, more decks, but at the same time I don't want to create "doomed" decks just for the sake of creating a deck.

Why avoid ranked? Its basically the same thing but more rewards, I can just concede matches against op decks and still play almost as much. Maybe exactly as much as I'd play in casual, since search times are a lot faster in ranked.

And am pretty sure milling stuff in beta is not a good point.

Ranked is more competitive. If you don't feel ready for the competition then why play it?

I don't really recommend milling whole factions if you want to play them eventually. I recommend having patience and acquiring cards like everyone else did.

 

[tealquest]

As much as I understand the frustration, we've all been there.

well, as I said, it just feels way too early. only been 2 days, and I already feel like I've hit the wall. And yes, I can create more decks, but what's the point? as I mentioned I can put in cards with 6 power that deal 3damage, but its a lost cause, its 9 power total, why even bother playing stuff like that? When base value should be 11.

As for ng (that is guys with spies right?), their starter gold is 5 play random bronze so its 15 power swing at best (without combo stuff) - for a gold that's exactly standard, nothing REALLY good. Their silver is spy 5 play bronze give it +10, so again 15 power swing, this is good, I guess, but only to compensate for all their bronze units being 10 or less power with a lot of requirements to be good (aka really ng need to combo stuff otherwise they are bad. And combo means you need a lot of those cards otherwise its not worth cause you might not draw into it, or opponent might disrupt it one way or the other and etc).

(impera brigade and enforcer)

of those I got 1 enforcer that's all, and yea. So should I be crafting them to make one more valid deck to play? But am pretty sure they are combo, to work they'd need even more spy cards and that's more stuff to craft... And thats ony one more deck.

I'm afraid that, same with ANY free to play card game, you can't expect to start it and immediately have competitive decks that can play at high ranks.

yes, and I am not expecting to compete on pro level, but at the same time I just have no options what to play. Already. 3 decks are decent. I can make more but those gonna be garbage. after a month I'd be able to make one more deck but that's it. +1 deck per month is kinda depressing. And as I mentioned, I can't even be working on improving my 3 decent decks. They are already done, all I can do is wait for completely different set of cards to make another decks, which I probably won't be able to tweak card by card. <- Here, that's the thing. gwent got just premade decks, there's no card by card improvement, and in my opinion it comes from gwent being too combo reliant.

 

[Theodrik]

tealquest, there are some decks that require a small amount of investment (scraps) to be competitive and good. If you need any specific help like chosing a faction or deck, send me a PM.

Welcome to Gwent!

 

[OG.laloquaint]

Do NOT mill entire factions. It's a terrible thing to do. I milled like 4 leaders months ago just so I could make a spy deck and it really limited my deck building. I think a good investment is the Starter Pack that you get offered, it's a really great package for a very low price. I wouldn't recommend buying kegs by themselves. Otherwise, you could try ranking up a bit in order to get some rewards at the end of the month. You also get stuff from ranking up. Have you also completed the Leader Challenges? You get ore and Leader cards as well.

Btw, I'm happy that you're using Nilfgaard but honestly, you need to invest a lot in order to get a good deck with that faction. You might want to switch to ST (the green faction) just for the time being since a lot of their bronze cards work well by themselves. Dwarves is a really good archetype to use early on and I would highly recommend using them just to gather kegs and cards. Also, do not mill Royal Decree, it's an amazing card. It's a slow start but that's how it is in most games, I'd say. It doesn't take very long to get cards neither tbh, you can get like two kegs a day.

 

[Legendarum]

My girlfriend recently got in to Gwent, and a couple of days in she was able to craft a competative netdeck (she netdecks in everything). Part of the beauty of Gwent is that all decks cost the same amount of scraps, regardless of how good they are (because all contain 4 golds, 6 silvers etc.)

Anyway, she built this deck by completing all the tutorial challenges, getting a lot of kegs that way. She did buy the starter pack, but that is the only thing she bought (and honestly it's a really good investment.)

Regarding milling - She did mill away all her Northern Realms cards, because she didn't like the look of that faction at all. After all that, she was a few scraps off making this competative deck, and decided to mill a FEW cards she would have preferred not to (really not a lot). And now she's been climbing the ranks with her netdeck.

All of that in literally a couple of days playing, she's absolutely loving it.

 

[Bondonkadonk]

There are some bronzes that, since the big patch update we had in December, haven't quite kept up with the power curve, you're right. But if we're looking at NG as an example (yes those are the spy guys), then actually the only bronze in the deck that isn't worth being in there is the arbalist crossbow guy, and the combat engineer. Those are the bronzes you'll want to replace with impera brigades.

I hate to say it but you are definitely looking at this game from a purely numbers point of view and it's the wrong way to look at it. What a card says on it's text or says with it's power sometimes doesn't sound like much, but is, in fact, extremely powerful when played correctly. You say "without combo stuff" like that's not the whole point of most cards. If gwent was purely about putting down the highest point bronze, it'd be a very boring game indeed. Gwent is about comboing cards and making them synergise with one another to really get them working.

Let me give you an example, for instance. There is a bronze card called nauzica brigade that, as a common card only costs 30 scraps to make. It's a 5str bronze that can deal 7 damage to a spying unit, and if it kills that spying unit, it strengthens itself by 4. Quite a nice card by itself. But when you combo it it's even better. Now let's put it into a combo with two cards in the starter deck that you don't seem all that impressed with. This is a good finisher move that many ranked spy decks do that offers you a huge point swing from a single card: Rainfarn, that 5 str gold that you said wasn't really good. He is, in fact a VERY GOOD NG gold. A strong move you can do with him is as follows: Place rainfarn, 5 str gold. He allows you to play a spying unit from your deck. You pick Joachim (the silver 5 str spy in your beginners deck) he in turn pulls nauzicaa brigade out, that's 5 str bronze that gains 10str thanks to the boost from joachim, bringing it to 15. That brigade can them kill joachim, removing the 5str spy from your opponents side AND strengthening the brigade by another 4 because it killed the spy. That brigade is now 19str. So just by playing a single card, Rainfarn, you now have 24 points on your side of the board. From one single play. All of which you can achieve from the starter deck + one extra 30scrap bronze.

At a very quick glance of gwentdb, I'd say something like this linked deck would be something to slowly aim for, if NG spies are your interest. The starter golds you have are fine for now, as are the silvers (although ceallach is probably the best one to eventually go for). The main things you want to focus on are bronzes. The most important bronzes are definitely need the last emissary as I believe starter deck only has 2. After that you have ALL the spies you need. Then Impera Brigade, the ones that boost themselves each time a spy is on the board, at least one nauzicaa brigade, and lastly the impera enforcers. Get rid of arbalist and combat engineer. With those small changes, you have a great deck on your hands for the start of your journey

As someone above mentioned, while you're saving up a few scraps, the ST (green) faction probably have the best well formed starter deck currently that need 0 changes made to it.

Obviously if you're not interested in NG, then that's cool too. I just recall you mentioning them earlier.

 

[DannyGuy]

I understand your frustration. However, you can't expect to start playing a game and have all the goodies right away - like you said, it was the same for you in Hearthstone. I say: Invest in one deck and play it. Play every day to earn daily rewards and complete quests. After maybe two weeks, you should notice some changes in your collection size.

• When crafting your deck, work from the core outward - that is to say, Bronzes first, then Silvers, then Golds - not the other way around.
• A nice trick to save up some scraps is to refrain from milling cards that are particularly strong at the moment. When they get nerfed, you will get full value for disenchanting them.
• Do not mill cards from other factions!!! I cannot stress this enough. You will regret it in the future.
• Be patient

 

[tealquest]

Thanks for your help guys. Yeah dwarf deck is my main for now, didn't need to craft anything for it and I got that silver archer unit that deals 6 to the "end of row" (which is one of the reasons why I came to these forums in the first place. It looked really strong, but I couldnt figure out what "end of row" means, seemed like random shooting to me)

As for ng I still don't buy it, examples I'm hearing all either require me to craft entire faction of bronzes, or, if I don't craft them and just use a couple of synergy cards, imho won't work well enough to compensate for lack of power ng units got otherwise. I mean, I played against those "unfinished" decks. Yeah some turns from those were scary, when people were throwing 20+ power on board in a single turn, but I was still able to win those games, just cause I've been slaming 11+ every turn, and they were not. Again, obviously any time there were combo shenanigans they've been pulling off turn after turn - that I couldn't win. But I can not repeat those shenanigans anyway, it would require me to craft entire faction of spies... And as with milling entire factions is a bad move, so is crafting entire faction - I think. Don't want to spend everything I got on one deck.

 

[zeph08]

Ranked is more competitive. If you don't feel ready for the competition then why play it?

I don't really recommend milling whole factions if you want to play them eventually. I recommend having patience and acquiring cards like everyone else did.

Casual also has players well above his rank to include MMR. It's demotivating all around

 

[tealquest]

Casual also has players well above his rank to include MMR. It's demotivating all around

I see some weaker decks in ranked, and see some op decks in casual, maybe percentages are more myside-favourable in casual, but I'm not here for straight winning. I'm here for fun. Its just a bit depressing there are decks that you can't even possibly hope to win. Continuing with all hearthstone comparison, no matter how netdecking and op the deck you're facing there's always a chance you might get a win even with like all basic cards. In gwent that is impossible. That is because of how op decks full of combo cards are and how thin the collection of "swing" cards in this game. Like its only scorch really. (also igni, but its golden - can't even afford it yet even if I'd decide to craft it). You also need to draw into those in the first place, and setting up scorch to hit multiple targets often is just impossible. And if you're playing against muli elfs, they just keep buffing their entire board anyways. There should be something like that clear weather card, that would clear all buffs card and mass lock. Because seriously monsters with weather conditions getting shut down with that one card, so why is there nothing like that to shut up elves and spies and those armor guys? wouldn't that be fair? Couldn't that "clear weather" card be "nature's balance" card instead - choose one: restore everything to its default state, or play a random bronze from your deck. Its like devs thinking process is: in this gwent version we hate on monsters and we love elves and spies. Next update we might balance stuff so that other things become op. - but this is just gonna be endless balancing. They really should just come up with "swing" cards, combo-punish cards...

 

[Brio1]

I played Hearthstone for about one year. It gives you the illusion of progressing, of winning, of "if i farm enough cards i can do it. Not be a pro, but having a decent collection of cards and to create more and more decks.." Wrong. Totally wrong.

The only option in Hearthstone, following the "three months expansions", is to mill about 80-90% of the cards to be pseudo-competiting. You can have the basic cards, true, well.. Good luck winning with that: you'll never emerge above the line of "totally casual/kindergarden level of challenge. Say goodbye to the collection, and be ready to mill everything in two months, all for play an RNG fiesta that rewards you with winnings not for having more cards, or for being more smart than your opponent. It's all pure luck. You don't have any control on winning, collections, etc.

And then they released Gwent on PS4, i was waiting it for months. I abandoned it a few months ago, when the Northern Realms Machines Soldiers decks were dominating the meta (i don't care much for northern realms, so i didn't want to create a deck for them and create all the cards. But if i wanted, i could do it. Forget this in Hearthstone or any other modern card game).

I returned with the patch and wow.. It's amazing. No more NR dominating, a good variety of decks and variations of them, daily quests, new rewards and new ranked mode. It's getting better and better.

All of this to say: you are starting a digital card game that's been around for almost one year. You are hoping that farming and playing with commitment and constanscy will reward you, will get you to play in ranked mode and win, will get you to have a decent collection. Gwent yes, Hearthstone nope.

In Gwent you need a week of normal game (with normal i mean doing the 3 winning/6 round daily, without the daily quests), a week to get enough scraps for create a legendary, or everything you need.
In Hearthstone you need three months to get enough scraps for a legendary, and good luck that it's going to be again competitive.

Sorry for the long post and the english errors, but i wanted to say mine opinion, returning back on Gwent and finding it more funny and compelling than ever.
And again i read posts about "Heartstone".. going back to your post title, "is there any point to keep playing without investing money" that is the perfection description for hearthstone, not gwent (gwent is the complete opposite for me).

I hope didn't brake forum rules speaking about the other game so freely xD

Anyway, good game to all and have fun, it's a pleasure to enjoy again this beautiful, farm-rewarding card game!

 

[Snake_Foxhounder]

Most people playing are f2p. If you're seeing good decks in low ranks, there's 2 possibilities: they paid for their decks or they milled several factions to make one good one.

Give it a month. Play for fun and don't worry about level, rank or stats. Gwent is one of the most generous f2p games out there. You'll be surprised at how fast your collection grows.

 

[Khreygond]

I see some weaker decks in ranked, and see some op decks in casual, maybe percentages are more myside-favourable in casual, but I'm not here for straight winning. I'm here for fun. Its just a bit depressing there are decks that you can't even possibly hope to win. Continuing with all hearthstone comparison, no matter how netdecking and op the deck you're facing there's always a chance you might get a win even with like all basic cards. In gwent that is impossible

That's because Hearthstone is more luck dependent. Which is a drawback, not an advantage.

I would get if this was coming say, from some player that has 500 hours in the game, because by that time, you will get only the same old cards in kegs. Milling them gives you a meager amount of scraps while gold crafting would take ages. But come on dude, you've been in the game for 3 - 4 days at best. Yes, the beginning is a bit rough but you'll get there. We all went through that, no exceptions. At least in the beginning you still get cards from kegs. Even some of us that got rewarded with extra kegs for participating in the Closed Beta still had a bad initial collection when we began. Plus with the progress wipe, all those kegs did was mitigate the fact that we started in the same position like everyone else again.

Gwent, at least in the beginning, is a farm rewarding game.

Also to bring back the original question, about investing money, it depends on the investment. If you plan on playing for a long long time, and enjoy the game a lot, the sooner you buy the kegs the better. I bought a starter pack for 5 bucks or so back in the early beginning and got some decent cards and golds. But since the thread is about trying to advance without investing, well, naturally that is a bit harder.